Unmanned Systems

VOLUME 38 NO.
2 | MARCH-APRIL 2020
ON THE COVER
UNDER RECRUITING FROM HOBBY

THE SEA THE FUTURE TO BUSINESS
26 32 38
ONE INDUSTRY.
ONE VOICE.
Every day, Congress has the opportunity to either boost or hinder the advancement
and deployment of unmanned and autonomous technologies. And every day, AUVSI
works to ensure Congress is educated about the benefits our industry provides to
communities and economies around the country.
Join us on March 25th for the Annual AUVSI Hill Day and lend your voice to that
effort. Share your story and show your lawmakers how you are bringing value to your
community. Together, we will shape the future for all things unmanned.
Register now at auvsi.org/hillday
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 | Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC

1 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020
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STAFF CENTRAL
EDUCATING
THE NEXT GENERATION
OF INNOVATORS
In recent years, we have seen well as a commitment to professional
tremendous growth in the use of development, that go beyond the
unmanned systems and robotics basic requirements to obtain a Federal
technologies, and the impact of Aviation Administration license. TOP
this innovation on our daily lives is certification provides students with a
incredible. competitive edge when starting their
Major advancements in artificial careers, which is why some receive it
intelligence (AI), big data and with their diplomas.
autonomy are just around the corner While we’re seeing steady growth in
as the next generation of innovators Brian Wynne STEM graduates, there are still gaps.
emerges. This field is rife with President And CEO, That’s why, as we look to the future
interesting career opportunities and AUVSI of the workforce and our community,
promising investments, and today’s AUVSI is collaborating with our
students stand to benefit. We must do membership, chapters and RoboNation
all we can as an industry to generate to foster young minds and drive
excitement and interest for jobs based interest and participation in STEM and
on science, technology, engineering our industry. RoboNation’s SeaPerch
and math (STEM) to ensure a fully and SeaGlide programs help develop
educated workforce is equipped with a “kindergarten to workforce” pipeline
the know-how to support the further and cultivate a passion for robotics
development and applications of and unmanned systems within our
unmanned systems technology in the
We need to nation’s youth. These programs alone
future. emphasize STEM serve more than 200,000 students
There are new and unique education today and provide them with the opportunity
professional choices for students to apply their STEM education to real-
as demands for pilots, systems
to create the world problems. Students grow their
engineers, instructors, maintenance technology economy love for robotics with each RoboNation
specialists and many other roles of tomorrow. competition by building the skills
are increasing with the expanded they’ll need in the workforce and in life.
adoption of unmanned systems. Unmanned systems are opening new
Colleges and universities across possibilities for students by providing
the U.S. are responding with degree incredible career opportunities with
and training programs in unmanned established corporate leaders in our
aircraft systems (UAS). AUVSI industry, as well as with companies
enables graduates to take their career you’ve never heard of, and some
aspirations higher with the Trusted that may not even exist yet but
Operator Program. The TOP offers three could be a household name a decade
levels of professional certification from now. We need to emphasize
for UAS operators who have STEM education today to create the
demonstrated they are equipped with technology economy of tomorrow.
the experience, skill and knowledge, as

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EDGE
Join 8,500+ users, technologists and
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Boston Convention and Exhibition Center | Boston

REGISTER NOW | XPONENTIAL.ORG May 4 – 7 | Educational Program
May 5 – 7 | Exhibits
CONTENT
EASTBOUND
12
On the cover: The EV Nautilus’ Hercules ROV prepares to go exploring under the water. Photo: Ocean Conservation Trust
AND DOWN
Plus.AI makes coast-to-coast
autonomous truck run
26
UNDER THE SEA
Robots boost global maritime operations
RECRUITING
38
32
FROM HOBBY TO
THE FUTURE BUSINESS
Industry rethinks how it hires, Creating a business map for new drone companies
trains workers
DEPARTMENTS
8 Industry Trends
• NUAIR, Droneresponders partner
14 Technology Gap
MIT takes the long view with The
20 Membership Profile
Hannan Parvizian, Volansi
• DOI bans use of Chinese-made drones Engine incubator
10 Essential Components
• X-61A Gremlins vehicle flies
18 Q&A
Kevin Switick of Avian
22 Viewfinder
Dubuque, Iowa
• Empire gets FAA cert for crop spraying
16
REGULATORY
UPDATE
30
Remote ID rule garners responses,
while industry touts solutions XPO PREVIEW
Explorer Robert Ballard preps for modern-day expedition
REGION
IN
FOCUS
Boston,
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36
24 Connecting the Dots

Lidar — not just for finding lost cities
44 Far Out
Tokyo prototype city to serve as home
anymore for new technologies
42 Chapter News
News from New England, San Diego,
45 Trending
Trending news on AUVSI’s social
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Unmanned Systems is published eight times a year as the official publication of the
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International 2019 by AUVSI, 2700 South
Publications and Content
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Contents of the articles are the sole opinions of the authors and do not necessarily Brian Sprowl, Associate Editor, bsprowl@auvsi.org
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Clark Perry is a writer living in Los Angeles.
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INDUSTRY TRENDS
Department of the Interior bans use

of Chinese-made drones; DJI issues
statement
After grounding approximately 800 drones in its fleet
in Oct. 2019, the U.S. Department of the Interior formally
banned its staff from using Chinese-made drones on Jan. 29.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt says the department decided to ban Chinese-
made drones over potential espionage concerns, and over
concerns that images taken with drones could be “valuable
to foreign entities, organizations, and governments.”
In response to the ban, industry heavyweight DJI said it is
“extremely disappointed” by the order, which “inappropriately
treats a technology’s country of origin as a litmus test for its
performance, security and reliability.”
The company added it makes “some of the industry’s most
safe, secure, and trusted drone platforms for commercial
operators,” and noted that several entities, including U.S.
cybersecurity consultants, U.S. federal agencies, including
Mark Bathrick, director of DOI’s Office of Aviation Services,
the Department of Interior and the Department of Homeland
who heads DOI’s drone program, speaks about Chinese- Security, have independently tested and validated the
made systems at AUVSI Unmanned Systems Defense. security of its products designed specifically for the DOI and
Protection. Security. in 2019. Photo: AUVSI other U.S. government agencies.
NUAIR, Droneresponders partner

to enhance drone training programs
for public safety
Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research (NUAIR)
has partnered with DroneResponders to help enhance UAS
educational services and training programs for public safety
organizations.
“Our partnership with NUAIR will help accelerate the
adoption of UAS by first responders across New York State
and beyond to help save lives and property,” says Charles
Werner, director of DroneResponders and retired fire chief
from Charlottesville, Virginia.
“Our DroneResponders Major Cities Working Group
members will also be working closely with NUAIR to conduct
research and testing on the use of public safety UAS in large
urban and metropolitan areas.”
According to NUAIR, this new partnership with
DroneResponders compliments its “NYFLY” program, a
New York UAS public-private partnership program being
developed to encourage state and local government
operations to adopt UAS to help solve problems and increase
effectiveness and efficiency of operations.
The NYFLY program is open to all New York State agencies
that want to enhance their operations with UAS, including The NUAIR test site has teamed with DroneResponders to
public safety, the energy sector and environmental enhance public safety drone training. Photo: NUAIR
conservation.

PrecisionHawk
announces new CEO,
James Norrod
PrecisionHawk has announced that
James Norrod is the company’s new
CEO.
With more than 25 years’ worth
of experience leading companies in
highly regulated industries, including
public and venture-backed technology
companies, Norrod specializes in
several areas, including forming
strategic partnerships, optimizing
domestic and international operations,
and developing management teams,
the company says.
Some of Norrod’s previous
leadership roles include serving as
the CEO of Segway, the CEO of Zhone
Technologies, and the CEO of Infinite
Power Solutions.
Norrod’s immediate predecessor,
Michael Chasen, will lead
PrecisionHawk’s advisory board and
will “continue to champion efforts to
integrate commercial drones into the
PrecisionHawk’s new CEO, James Norrod. National Airspace,” PrecisionHawk
Photo: PrecisionHawk says.
GM turning assembly plant

into first fully dedicated EV site
General Motors has announced that it will invest $2.2
billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to turn it into
its first fully-dedicated electric vehicle assembly plant where
it will produce various all-electric trucks and SUVs.
With production scheduled to begin in late 2021, GM’s first
all-electric truck will be a pickup. That truck will be followed by
the recently announced shared, electric, self-driving vehicle
called Cruise Origin.
“Through this investment, GM is taking a big step forward
in making our vision of an all-electric future a reality,” Mark
Ruess, GM president, said in a press event at the plant, with
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other local and state
officials.
“Our electric pickup will be the first of multiple electric
truck variants we will build at Detroit-Hamtramck over the
next few years.”
GM has also announced that it will invest an additional
$800 million in supplier tooling and other projects related to
the launch of the new electric trucks.
Detroit-Hamtramck’s paint and body shops and general
assembly area will receive comprehensive upgrades, including General Motors President Mark Reuss announces a $2.2
new machines, conveyors, controls and tooling. GM’s joint billion investment at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant
venture with LG Chem will also supply battery cells for the to produce a variety of all-electric trucks and SUVs. Photo:
electric vehicles manufactured at Detroit-Hamtramck. Steve Fecht

ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS
Dynetics’ X-61A Gremlins air

vehicle completes first flight
Dynetics, the contractor for DARPA’s Gremlins
program, announced that in November, 2019, it
successfully flew its X-61A Gremlins Air Vehicle for
the first time at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
Testing operations involved one captive-carry
mission aboard a C-130 aircraft and an airborne launch
and free flight of the X-61A, which lasted one hour and
41 minutes.
Some of the test objectives included
demonstrating a successful launch of the
GAV from the C-130, collecting data
on GAV subsystem operation and
performance, and demonstrating the
flight termination and ground (parachute)
recovery of the GAV.
The main goal of the Gremlins program is to
“accelerate the ability to perform aerial launch and
recovery of volley quantities of low-cost, reusable”
UAS, Dynetics says. The company says the November
test is the next step toward the completion of the
program’s Phase 3 demonstration objectives, which Dynetics flies its X-61A Gremlins Air Vehicle (GAV) for the first time
include a final flight test to demonstrate the ability to at Dugway Proving Ground near Salt Lake City, Utah.
recover four GAVs in less than 30 minutes. Photo: Dynetics
Empire Drone Co. receives FAA

certification to use UAS for crop
spraying
Fulton, New York’s Empire Drone Co. (EDC) recently
received a Part 137 certification from the Federal
Aviation Administration that allows the company to use
UAS to spray crops.
According to EDC, using UAS for crop spraying offers
a number of advantages over traditional crop spraying
methods, including helping growers save on equipment,
application, and labor, cutting back on time and traffic
in the field, and reducing applicators’ exposure to
potentially harmful chemicals.
“We are incredibly excited to be one of the first
companies in New York to be given the go-ahead by the
FAA to spray crops with drones,” says Sean Falconer,
partner at Empire. “This new spraying service, in
combination with our agricultural drone sensors and
spraying drone sales offerings, help make us the one-
stop-shop drone resource for agricultural professionals
in New York State and beyond.”
EDC says spraying drones can cover up to 24 acres
per hour. They can be flown either autonomously in a An Empire Drone DJI Agras MG-1P used for agricultural drone
grid or manually for spot spraying. With the help of its spraying. Photo: Empire Drone Company
onboard radar system, the UAS can fly a consistent
elevation a few feet above a field.

Wing to deliver clothing
via drone delivery service
Drone delivery company Wing will begin using its
drones to deliver clothing items from LSKD, a street
and sportswear fashion label in Queensland, Australia.
The service is available through Wing’s app, as
customers can select what they want from the LSKD
summer collection, which includes shirts, shorts, gym
wear, caps and dresses, and have them delivered to
them by a Wing UAS.
“It’s an insane feeling being the first street lifestyle
clothing brand to launch air delivery with Wing in
Queensland,” says Jason Daniel, founder of LKSD.
“Come launch day, our customers will be able to place
an order on a Friday afternoon and receive it within
minutes, just in time for the weekend.”
Wing is no stranger to making deliveries via UAS
in Australia, as it launched its delivery service in two Wing’s drone (pictured) will be used to deliver clothing items from LSKD, a
suburbs of Logan, Australia, last year. street/sportswear fashion label in Queensland, Australia. Photo: Wing
AI robotics company Covariant has spent the last two objects without being told what to do,
and a half years since being founded thanks to their ability to learn various
Covariant launches researching, developing, testing and general abilities.
from stealth deploying its AI, which has led to the
development of the Covariant Brain.
Over the past year, Covariant
transitioned from development and
Artificial intelligence robotics The company describes the pilot phase into full production mode.
company Covariant launched from Covariant Brain as “universal AI for Covariant robotic stations are now
stealth in late January with the robots that can be applied to any use running consistently at facilities in
announcement that its AI has been case or customer environment.” North America and Europe.
deployed and is fully operational at Covariant robots are capable of
customer facilities in several industries. quickly learning how to manipulate
Miso Robotics unveils next-

generation robotic kitchen assistant
platform
Miso Robotics, based in Pasadena, California, has announced
a prototype for its newest product, the Miso Robot on a Rail
(ROAR), which the company describes as the “next generation
of zero-footprint, cost-efficient robotic kitchen assistant
solutions for evolving commercial kitchens.”
Thanks to feedback from restaurants, Miso Robotics has
moved its robotic kitchen assistant Flippy to an upside-down
rail. Designed to be installed under a standard kitchen hood, the
newest generation of Flippy will be able to move along a line of
kitchen equipment while staying out of the path of busy cooks.
Miso Robotics expects ROAR to be available commercially by
the end of 2020. The company says these updates will allow
it to create a “zero-footprint product,” which lowers the cost
of automated kitchen equipment and offers true end-to-end
automated cooking services.
During the development process of the next generation of
the product, the Miso Robotics team has continued to make A rendering of a prototype for Miso Robotics’ newest
strides in the artificial intelligence software that powers Flippy, product, the Miso Robot on a Rail, the “next generation of
resulting in software that has significantly expanded the food zero-footprint, cost-efficient robotic kitchen assistant
solutions for evolving commercial kitchens.” Photo:
categories that Flippy can cook to over a dozen types of fried
PRNewsfoto/Miso Robotics
food including chicken wings, popcorn shrimp and corn dogs.
TESTING, TESTING
PLUS.AI MAKES A SPLASH WITH FIRST COAST-

TO-COAST COMMERCIAL FREIGHT RUN WITH
AN AUTONOMOUS TRUCK
By Brian Sprowl
Trucks are responsible for transporting the

vast majority of the goods that humans eat
and use every day. Yet, the trucking industry
needed almost 61,000 more drivers at the end
of 2018 to meet the country’s demands for
freight services, according to a report released
by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) in
July 2019.
The numbers aren’t expected to get any
more encouraging in the near future, as ATA
Chief Economist Bob Costello said the industry
“could be short just over 100,000 drivers in
five years, and 160,000 drivers in 2028.”
With such a shortage in drivers, alternative
methods are needed to facilitate the
transportation of goods from one destination
to another for people to use and consume.
Enter companies such as self-driving truck
technology company Plus.ai, which in late
2019 successfully completed the first coast-
to-coast commercial freight run with an
autonomous truck on behalf of Land O’Lakes
Inc., delivering more than 40,000 pounds of
butter, just in time for the year-end holidays.
“End of the year is a very busy time for us.
To be able to address this peak demand with
a fuel- and cost-effective freight transport
solution will be tremendously valuable to our
business,” Yone Dewberry, Land O’Lakes’ chief
supply chain officer, said at the time.
The first SAE Level 4 U.S. cross-country
commercial pilot, the hub-to-hub trip covered
2,800 miles from Tulare, California to
Quakertown, Pennsylvania, in less than three safety driver was on board to monitor and assume control if necessary. A
days. safety engineer was also present to monitor system operations.
The autonomous truck was equipped During the continuous cross-country journey, the Plus.ai autonomous
with Plus.ai’s advanced autonomous driving truck safely operated both day and night through varying conditions,
system, which uses a variety of software including the expansive plains of Kansas, the winding roads of the Rockies,
and technology including multimodal sensor and at over 11,000 feet elevation. While heading east, the truck also
fusion, deep learning visual algorithms, and encountered rainy and snowy roads.
simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) According to Shawn Kerrigan, COO and cofounder of Plus.ai, the company
technologies. The company says the journey timed this freight run for the winter to allow its truck to drive through a
was “an important milestone in validating the wide range of weather, road conditions, elevation, day and night driving,
system’s ability to safely handle a wide range and complex scenarios.
of weather and road conditions.” “This trip was a powerful demonstration of the safety and efficiency
The vehicle drove primarily in autonomous that can be achieved when autonomous trucks become commercially
mode during the cross-country journey, but a available,” Kerrigan tells Unmanned Systems.

This trip was a powerful as the market’s most sophisticated sensors,
demonstration of the safety and a combination of lidars, radars and cameras to
help a truck “see” the road.
efficiency that can be achieved Then, Plus.ai’s autonomous driving system
assesses the road, plans out what to do, and
when autonomous trucks controls the truck. As the company tests and
become commercially available. refines its technology, it always has two people
onboard, a safety driver and an operations
– Shawn Kerrigan specialist.
Plus.ai works closely with its truck
manufacturing partners and truck parts
suppliers to “tightly integrate” everything with
the company’s autonomous driving system.
The company also works with top shippers to
deliver commercial freight using its self-driving
trucks.
“We are firm believers that a strong
partnership ecosystem is necessary to realize
our goal of being the first to commercialize
self-driving trucks,” Kerrigan says. “With this
in mind, we seek out like-minded companies,
organizations, and executives who’re excited
about creating and adopting revolutionary
technologies like self-driving trucks. Our focus
has led us to have the best-in-class partners
today, both upstream and downstream.”
2020 plans
Having ended 2019 on a high note, Plus.ai is
looking to continue its momentum in 2020. In
January, the company announced a new safety
Plus.ai at testing program, which will expand its testing
Monument Rocks from the 17 states it has already tested in to
in Kansas. Photo: all permissible continental states by the end
Plus.ai
of 2020. The testing will include closed-course
testing as well as public road testing.
Plus.ai is also exploring new testing facilities
and pilot runs that will continue to broaden the
complex driving scenarios that it tests in.
With ambitions of being the first to safely
bring an autonomous truck to market, Plus.
ai will continue to develop, test and refine its
autonomous system, working closely with
truck OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, shippers, and
regulators along the way to set the path for the
safe rollout of self-driving trucks.
‘Huge opportunity’ With this dedication, Plus.ai believes it can
The founding team at Plus.ai “recognized the strong push the industry forward to a place where
potential of artificial intelligence to make a big impact on operations such as its 2019 coast-to-coast
business and society,” Kerrigan says about the impetus commercial freight run with an autonomous
behind the launch of Plus.ai in 2016. truck will be routine.
“With the advances in self-driving technology enabled “In the next five years, self-driving trucks will
by AI, we saw a huge opportunity to transform trucks become commercial products, and we will start
to improve their safety and efficiency, a trillion-dollar to see the benefits through improved safety
opportunity, since trucks transport over 70% of the and efficiency gains,” Kerrigan says. “Shipping
goods we eat and use every day,” Kerrigan says. goods will become faster, safer and more
To transform trucks, Plus.ai, which focuses on Level 4 efficient.”
autonomy — meaning the truck can drive autonomously
in specific operating domains — uses what it describes
Orin Hoffman of The Engine and many other
startups will have a prominent presence at
TECHNOLOGY GAP the AUVSI Xponential 2020 event. Go to
xponential.org for more information.
MIT TAKES THE LONG VIEW ON ‘TOUGH TECH’

WITH THE ENGINE INCUBATOR
By Brett Davis
MIT, the legendary source of cutting-edge that are expecting returns in three, five, seven years.
technology, is pushing to make sure that “tough tech” We have an 18 year fund,” Hoffman says. “We have
— advances that might be difficult to commercialize MIT’s The Engine investors at The Engine that share our view that
but could pay off in the long run — doesn’t get stuck incubator includes long term, or patient, capital can be involved in the
on a shelf. a venture capital creation of the next GEs of the world, the next GMs
The university created The Engine, an incubator fund, a network of the world, the next SpaceXs of the world.”
that includes three facets: a venture capital fund; a of industry,
network of academics, government and corporate government
and academia Innovation orchard
officials; and office and laboratory space.
and office and
That isn’t too unusual, but Orin Hoffman, a venture That idea was, in fact, the idea that launched
laboratory space.
partner who joined The Engine in the spring of 2019, All photos: The
The Engine. University leaders had been hearing
says there are some components that make the Engine about the need from faculty members and alumni
effort unique. entrepreneurs. In an article in the Washington Post,
One is that the venture fund can help pay for MIT President L. Rafael Reif called for the creation of
projects for up to 18 years, much longer than the an “innovation orchard” that could lead to disruptive
typical three- to five-year venture capital timeline. technology to address big challenges.
“A lot of the companies we invest in will have “It was started out of a recognition ... from MIT that
longer runways than consumer software companies there is so much technology sitting on the shelf of
that have more traditional VCs [venture capitalists] the university labs in Boston, or government labs in

Boston, or even in large companies in Boston, that
wasn’t getting commercialized,” says Hoffman,
who will be speaking about The Engine and “Just a fund or a space or a network alone
entrepreneurship at AUVSI Xponential 2020. “We can’t do it, but the combination of those
really started digging into why that was,” and over three things, combined with the experience
the next year, that push morphed into The Engine. and leadership both of The Engine staff but
Aside from the fund, the network is also also the university collaborators we have,
important, Hoffman says. While some ventures creates that very close-knit relationship
have been funded in various locations, the bulk are that allows us both to find and further,
in Massachusetts, specifically in the Boston area, and eventually invest in these academic
and Hoffman says that’s important. entrepreneurs,” he says.
“We do believe in the importance of geographical Hoffman previously worked for iRobot,
convenience,” Hoffman says. “We are certainly Endeavor Robotics and the Defense
open to entrepreneurs anywhere, but at least as Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx),
they get their start, we think there is value in them which sought to help the military tap into
convening with other founders.” entrepreneurial companies for advanced,
Companies work with The Engine in a wide fast-moving technology.
variety of areas, from advanced manufacturing to “At DIU, we were looking at tough tech
robotics to artificial intelligence, but “it’s amazing companies that were on the commercial side
to see how common the issues they have are,” that DOD generally didn’t have access to or
Hoffman says. “And that’s an important part of know how to engage with,” and the purpose
early-stage growth.” was to figure out how to grow them so the
The Engine Network convenes twice a year to government could ultimately be a consumer
build relationships between early-stage ventures of their technology, he says.
and corporate and government partners, and holds With the Engine, “it just gives a lot more
a Tough Tech Summit each October, which brings levers to pull” to help get these companies
together 500 attendees to talk about building and off the ground, including from corporate
investing in companies. partners.
“We work hard but we have a collegial and fun
atmosphere,” Hoffman says. “You can imagine
having some of the brightest minds in the country
all working on different breakthrough technologies
that could be the next biggest company in the The Engine is expanding its office and laboratory space to
accommodate about 100 companies and 800 entrepreneurs.
world, and be incredibly impactful, and they’re all in
this one location. Walking through the cafe of the
Engine is like taking a survey course in advanced
technology. It is just a phenomenal group of
founders.”
Expanding space
The infrastructure part of The Engine includes
25,000 square feet of office, laboratory and maker
space in Cambridge. That enables companies
to get started without having to invest a large
amount in capital equipment.
In late summer 2019, The Engine announced it
will expand, creating an additional 200,000 square
feet of shared office, fabrication and lab space,
partly by renovating an existing building that will
enable it to accommodate about 100 companies
and 800 entrepreneurs.
“The space will be specifically designed for
companies at the convergence of technology
disciplines across engineering and physical
sciences, where access to diverse space and
tools are essential for success,” MIT News said in
announcing the expansion.
All of it together, the fund, the network and the
infrastructure are what gives The Engine its spark,
says Hoffman.

Remote ID will be a key topic at the policy
and public acceptance track at the AUVSI
REGULATORY UPDATE Xponential 2020 event. Go to Xponential.org
for more information.
REMOTE ID RULE GARNERS RESPONSES

WHILE INDUSTRY TOUTS SOLUTIONS
By Brett Davis
Although the public comment period for the Federal Aviation
Administration’s proposed rule for the remote identification of
drones is expiring soon, the actual rule won’t take effect for quite
some time — it won’t be fully in place for more than three years.
AUVSI is reviewing the rules and will be responding, but in the
meantime President and CEO Brian Wynne said he welcomes the
move.
“The importance of remote ID regulations cannot be overstated,
as they are necessary to enable advanced and expanded operations
such as flights over people and beyond line of sight,” Wynne said.
“They also serve as the linchpin needed for future rulemakings
that will pave the way for transformative uses of UAS with significant
benefits for our economy and society, including widespread UAS
delivery. Finally, remote ID will also help law enforcement identify
and distinguish authorized UAS from those that may pose a security
threat.”
The issue of identifying who’s flying a drone has come to the fore
from time to time, including after drone incursions near Heathrow
Airport in London and more recently by sightings of night-flying
swarms of drones in Colorado and Nebraska.
“The ability to identify and locate UAS operating in the airspace
WhiteFox CEO Luke Fox displays his company’s
of the United States provides additional situational awareness to
Xcellence Awards. Photo: Becphotography
manned and unmanned aircraft,” the executive summary of the rule
says. “This will become even more important as the number of UAS
operations in all classes of airspace increase.”
The FAA says full implementation of the rule relies on three parts, Industry steps up
which are being developed at the same time. Industry players have already been demonstrating
The first is the rule itself, which sets requirements for UAS their systems to governments. In November 2019,
operators and design and production standards for drone producers. WhiteFox demonstrated its system to ICAO, the
The second is a network of remote ID UAS service suppliers, which International Civil Aviation Organization. In the demo,
would collect the drone identifications and locations in real time and DJI drones broadcast their identity using the new
perform that service under contract from the FAA. proposed ASTM standard for remote ID and were
The third is the collection of technical requirements that identified by WhiteFox.
standards-setting organizations will develop to meet the design and At the same ICAO conference, drone builder DJI
production requirements of the rule. demonstrated a “drone-to-phone” remote ID system
Almost all drones will have to abide by the new rules, with the that sends drone information to smartphones using
exception of some home-built systems, drones operated by the existing Wi-Fi protocols and a smartphone app.
U.S. government and unmanned aircraft that weigh less than .55 Also in late 2019, Pierce Aerospace, a remote ID
pounds, such as the new DJI Mavic Mini, which just squeaks under UAS service supplier, says it set distance and altitude
that weight limit. records for its Flight Portal ID system, using the ASTM
The rule sets up two categories of remote ID: standard and limited. remote ID Bluetooth standard and Sonim XP8 Android
Standard means that a drone would need to report its identification phones as ground stations.
and location over an internet connection and by broadcast such as The system was able to get signal returns at up
over a radio signal. to 900 meters above ground level and out to three
The limited designation would mean the drone could send the info kilometers from the phones, using a group 2 military
via the internet only, with no broadcast requirements, but they would drone.
need to operate no more than 400 feet from their control station. “The team is building a body of data and research
Drones that can’t meet either standard — some homebuilt to utilize as we further push the boundaries of what
drones, or older ones manufactured before the rule — could only fly this standard is capable of and how our Flight Portal
at specific geographic areas specially designated for them. remote ID lookup service can work with the standard
The rule has, so far, drawn blistering comments from radio- to provide remote ID services to commercial and
controlled aircraft hobbyists, who say it will curtail, or even end, such defense users alike in the UTM [unmanned traffic
flights in the United States in favor of commercial drones. management] and C-UAS [counter drone] markets,”
Timelines
The FAA expects all drones to be compliant with the rules by three
years after its effective date. No drones that aren’t compliant could be
said company CEO Aaron Pierce. manufactured for use in the U.S. after two years of its effective date, and
Based on these and other demonstrations, by three years after the date all drones operating in the country would
some industry officials say the systems need to be in compliance.
needed to make remote ID a reality are already The FAA considered existing technologies such as transponders and
here and have been proven. Luke Fox, CEO of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) but found them
WhiteFox, says waiting years for a system unsuitable “due to the lack of infrastructure for these technologies at
to be fully implemented will slow the market lower altitudes and the potential saturation of available radio frequency
down. spectrum.” In fact, the FAA would prohibit drone use of ADS-B for fear of
“The biggest problem is the implementation the effect it could have on manned aviation.
period, because that means we’re at least four Companies such as DJI have proposed other systems, such as DJI’s
years off from even starting to understand Aeroscope, which identifies drones by analyzing their electronic signals.
how we can do operations over people and The proposed rule would also change the way drones need to be
everything else. And that’s billions of dollars registered. Previously, hobbyists flying drones that weigh more than .55
of opportunity costs completely lost, every pounds would need to register themselves, not each individual drone they
single year that it gets delayed,” he said. flew. To meet remote ID needs, they would have to register each aircraft
“It can be done overnight through either individually.
software updates to drones that can receive Fox said he foresees various remote ID products on the market, working
those software updates, and to those who together under consensus standards.
can’t, to have specific requirements for retrofit “Ultimately, without remote ID, we’re going to continue to see ... for
modules,” he said. “So, retrofit modules exist example, the Super Bowl, where you only have a very, very small number
today on the market and have been tested. of drones and most of them have to be tethered in order for them to fly,
We have one here with us right now.” because that’s really the only mechanism to know if a drone is authorized
At CES 2020, WhiteFox showed its WISDM or not is if it’s on a leash. That’s not really unleashing the potential of
module, a palm-sized unit that can attach to drones.”
a drone or have its functions implemented
through software — in either case, it
broadcasts a drone’s flight information and
unique identifier.
WISDM took first place in the AUVSI
Xcellence in Innovation Awards last year for
the “digital, always changing license plate for
drones” it provides. The system, Fox says, even
allows its users to pick out one unauthorized
drone from a swarm of authorized ones.
“If there’s, let’s say a hundred drones flying
around Washington, D.C. and 99 of them are
authorized to be there, but there’s that one
rogue one, we want to be able to identify
it and then say that’s the one we want to
deauthorize. That’s the one we want to shut
down. And the ability exists today to do that.”
DJI says it supports remote ID, and
indeed has “zealously pushed for it,” but
doesn’t like the proposed rule, saying it’s too
complicated and intrusive and should rely
on just broadcasting location, with internet
connections as an optional alternative.
In a post on its webpage from Brendan
Schulman, the company’s vice president of
policy and legal affairs, he wrote, “Everyone
understands why cars need license plates:
drivers have to be accountable. But what if
instead of just a license plate, your car was
also legally required to be connected via the
internet to a privately run car-tracking service
that charged you an annual fee of about 20%
of your car’s value, and stored six months of
your driving data for government scrutiny?
Would you think the government had gone too
far?”
Kevin Switick is president and CEO of Avian, a company that holds
the prime contract with the U.S. Navy’s UAS Test Directorate, now
Air Test and Evaluation Squadron TWO-FOUR (UX-24).The squadron
conducts flight-test operations on various type, model, and series
group 1-3 UAS for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, as well as two
spinoff business units focused on the commercial drone market. He
is a retired U.S. Navy commander and test pilot.
With Kevin Switick
and sensors to begin work on a contract that

ultimately didn’t place its first Task Order for
18 months. During that interlude, we chased
work with utility, transportation, mining, and
Q: How did you get started in the gas companies to pay our bills. These markets
unmanned systems world? required an immense amount of convincing
to use drones for applications that were
A: For me, it started in 2000 while working at previously done with people and aircraft. It was
the Navy Warfare Development Command an intense uphill climb that required us to do
(NWDC) in Newport, Rhode Island, on a numerous demonstrations at reduced prices to
thesis called “Gaining the Information
convince them of our value.
and Knowledge Advantage” that explored
using a tiered unmanned aerial vehicle
architecture to gather intelligence Despite the fact that they loved the results,
information. NWDC designed wargames repeat business never came. We were a
and experiments to test the theory, which solution looking for a problem. We seldom
later became the basis for the Department saw repeat work. The market was just not
of Defense’s Unmanned Aerial Systems ready to fully embrace the new technology.
Roadmap. As a company, it started in We failed to prove our value. On top of that,
2009 when we were invited to provide test we had two drones crash in less than a year
pilots to assist the U.S. Navy’s UAS Test due to mechanical failures, taking with them
Directorate. Over the past 10 years, we’ve very expensive sensors; the drone technology
supported the development of a wide proved to be unreliable and set us back many
array of unmanned systems programs, months.
to include an unmanned undersea Kevin Switick
system, for the Navy and Marine Corps. President and CEO of
This led to us being invited by a couple Avian In hindsight, I should have done a detailed risk
of Fortune 50 companies to help them analysis of the market and the technology,
in the development of their commercial along with a marketing canvas and business
unmanned systems. In 2016, we formed a model before jumping in. The State Department
counter-UAS joint venture, called redUAS, contract blinded me, then I convinced myself
that was awarded a contract to create that a market would suddenly emerge, and that
a C-UAS Training Course for the Federal the systems I was buying were “commercial-
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). grade” when in reality, they were not. If I didn’t
In 2017, we were awarded a contract by a pull myself out of the market, the insurance
State Transportation Agency to map their industry would eventually do so as it uninsured
highway system using drones and lidar. my systems and sensors following a third crash.
This led to the creation of our geospatial
mapping team, Spectrum.
Q: How were you able to overcome them?
Q: What were some of the biggest A: Ultimately, we didn’t. We built a risk tool to
mistakes you’ve made? analyze the market and systems, that resulted
in a more realistic pricing model that accounted
A: The biggest mistake I made was jumping
for the true risk encountered during operations.
into the commercial drone market too
We then tested that new pricing model and
quickly. With the award of the multi-million-
found that the market was unwilling to pay the
dollar State Department contract, I naively
higher price for the services we were providing.
purchased $500,000 worth of equipment
The value just wasn’t there. So, we ceased all
Although the military has been working on
drones for well over 20 years, we are just now
starting to see the large-scale use of drones
across the military on an everyday basis. Most
people know about the few types of drones
used in combat operations overseas, but don’t
know that large helicopter drones are flying off
U.S. Navy ships every day. You don’t hear about
it in the news, but it’s happening.
On the commercial side, we know that there

are a lot of small hobbyist type systems and
smaller commercial application drones on the
market, but there are also some serious large
commercial grade drones in development. The
geospatial mapping activities and sold off our systems commercial drone industry is not that far behind
and sensors. It was my first successful (and expensive) the military, except in one way. Some of the
failure, from which we are using our lessons to redirect our new systems are not being built with the same
expertise to other aspects of the market. “military-grade” reliability and robustness, and
that will come back to haunt the market. It will
Q: What are some things that new entrants into the slow down just when it starts to take off as the
market need to understand? safety of the systems comes into question by
the already skeptical general population. We
A: Don’t be a solution looking for a problem. Start by clearly must properly design and test our systems.
understanding the customer problem you are trying to
solve, and then design a solution that best serves them. Q: How do you see the unmanned systems
Do not start with an idea for a new drone technology and market changing in the next decade?
expect the market to suddenly come. And try not to be
a jack of all trades. Design your system with a clear ideal A: That’s difficult for me to predict as I’m
customer in mind, and make sure they have a clear and the man sitting on the high fence watching
compelling reason to want to buy or use your system. the many pockets of activity, both military
In the case of our State Department customer, they did and commercial. I know there’s a great deal
not want a geospatial mapping drone. They wanted data. happening behind many closed doors, some
They needed a three-dimensional model of their highway of which I have insight into; which leads me
system that was affordable. And when you do design your to believe that on the outside, the general
system, make sure you design it and test your system’s population will see little change over the next
safety, reliability and robustness. There’s a big difference couple years, as the large scale commercial
between designing a drone for a commercial customer market is preparing to be born. When those
who will occasionally use it for only 45 minutes, and one many doors begin to open and these amazing
that will fly it eight to 10 hours a day, every day, under all products that are being developed emerge,
types of weather and temperature conditions and at high the market transition will happen rapidly, along
altitude, as was our case. This sounds like common sense, with the mainstream acceptance of large
but this is exactly the type of system limitations we commercial drones in our everyday lives.
faced every day that drove the risk of routine, commercial
operations to a level where our customers no longer saw Although some of the larger systems I’m seeing
the value. are getting fairly close to being market ready,
I’m still guessing we are three to four years
Q: How would you describe the current state of the away. But when it happens, it’s going to happen
drone industry? fast and it will be an overnight sensation as
long the many developers and manufacturers
A: If we were to equate it to the car industry that started have built their commercial grade systems with
in earnest in 1899 when 60 car manufacturers opened the correct level of safety, robustness and
in the United States, it’s now the late 1920s and we’re reliability.
transitioning from the 1916 Model T Ford to the 1927
General Motors La Salle. We’re approaching the end of the
Wild Wild West phase.

MEMBERSHIP PROFILE
A few questions for industry movers and shakers
The technology I’m most excited The best part of my job is:
about is: Learning from the most hard-
Autonomous aerial transportation working and talented people in our
and mobility. The idea that one company and inspiring them to
day autonomous flight will be as go further than they thought was
common and accessible to every possible.
human as mailing a letter or catching
a bus is exhilarating and awesome. The strangest thing in my office
is:
My favorite robot movie is: I sit with the rest of the team in
The Matrix trilogy. I’ve watched an open office space, so in many
these movies over 100 times. It’s ways the strangest things around
a shame they didn’t have flying the office are not necessarily
robots. mine. Around the office we have
all sorts of hardware components
The best advice I ever got is: and prototype concepts that could
Success is not final. “Failure is not be considered strange by some,
fatal: It is the courage to continue but I view them as examples of our
that counts.” - Winston Churchill team’s creativity and innovation.
For fun, I like to:

Participate in Ironman races. It’s a
great opportunity to visit different
places around the world, where the
races are held, and push yourself to
your physical limits. So far, I’ve done
races in the Canary Islands, Hawaii,
California and Mexico. My next race
will be in Brazil. I’m very excited.
Also, whenever I get the chance, I
love to fly.
When I was a kid, I wanted to grow

up to be:
A violinist and eventually an
entrepreneur. Only one of these
dreams was fulfilled.

Hannan Parvizian
CEO and cofounder,
Volansi

VIEWFINDER
Reader Robert J. Felderman, a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, took this
photo of Dubuque, Iowa’s Steeple Square, a former Roman Catholic church
that is now an event center. He took the image with a DJI Phantom 4 Pro
from about 240 feet altitude.
Have a great photo you’ve taken with an unmanned system? Send it to

Brett Davis at bdavis@auvsi.org

THE
DOTS
LIDAR: NOT JUST FOR FINDING LOST CITIES ANYMORE
By Brett Davis
In his 2017 book “The Lost City These days, lidar are appearing
of the Monkey God,” author Douglas in more and more places,
Preston details how lidar, short for many of them much smaller
light detection and ranging, helped find than a Cessna. Velodyne,
a legendary, lost city in Honduras by for instance, recently
peering through heavy jungle to reveal introduced its Velabit, its
the long-hidden buildings underneath. smallest lidar system to
That lidar system, a Teledyne Optech date.
Gemini operated by the National Center “It’s tiny. It’s smaller
for Airborne Laser Mapping, was large than a deck of playing
enough to nearly fill a general aviation cards,” says Sally
aircraft, and expensive and military- Frykman, vice president
critical enough that it was guarded day of communications for
and night when on the ground. Velodyne. “It uses all
The results of the survey helped put our same technology
lidar systems on the map, literally, when and we’re just
it came to archaeological expeditions, continuing to make our
according to a history published in Lidar products smaller and
magazine. smaller and smaller.” An unmanned street sweeper of the type
It’s also cheap, at $100 — no need used in Beijing, which relies on a small lidar
to guard it day and night. (at top). Photo: AUVSI
The upside is that lidar can now be
says, and later the company focused
embedded “in pretty much anything
on making its lidars smaller “but still
you can think of,” Frykman says.
durable.”
Now, with the Velabit, a lidar system
AVs and ADAS is small enough to fit on almost
Self-driving cars rely on lidar, of anything, including small drones. At its
course, but driver-assistance systems, CES booth, the company had a security
such as ones that help with lane- robot that uses small lidar, along with
keeping and auto-parking, do as well. In a street-sweeping robot that cleans
fact, Frykman said that was the original up in Beijing. The company also says
impetus for the dinky Velabit. the system can be used for developing
“We have the advanced driver “smart cities” that are friendly to
Velodyne Lidar’s dinky Velabit on display at autonomous navigation.
assistance systems, and how do we
CES 2020. Photos: Velodyne Lidar (top),
AUVSI (bottom) continue to advance them and make
them better? Everyone knows lidar is DJI’s lidar
going to make it better, so how do we
Velodyne wasn’t the only company
make it smaller, less expensive, and
touting lidar for uses beyond self-
more accessible for everyone?”
driving cars or automated driver
The company’s original HGL-64 lidar
assistance systems.
was developed for the DARPA Grand
“While a lot of focus has been put on
Challenge, after company founder David
the growing use of RGB camera-enabled
Hall realized existing camera systems
drones and photogrammetry to achieve
and lidar systems weren’t cutting it (no
improvements – such as cutting rework
entrants managed to even finish the
in certain construction projects by
first race). Caterpillar was an early
25% – LiDAR technology has slowly
customer, using the systems on its
started to become accessible as a
mining trucks.
high resolution and accuracy option,”
“We had to keep hardening it and
commercial UAS market leader DJI says
hardening it and hardening it,” Frykman
on its website.
“Through innovations by leading lidar
manufacturers like Livox and Velodyne to
lower the costs and size of lidar models and
system integrators such as GreenValley,
YellowScan, Emesent and more, companies
can now easily deploy a lidar system
mounted onto a UAV as an all-in-one 3D
mapping device.”
In addition to archaeological mapping —
Velodyne’s systems have also been used
for that — lidar can be used for mapping
accident scenes, surveying forests,
precision agriculture and landscaping,
terrain modeling, mine inspection and more.
The Velabit lidar is small enough to be carried by Robotic Research’s
DJI also debuted its own lidar system at
Pegasus Mini, a combination groiund and air vehicle. Photo: Velodyne Lidar
CES via Livox, an independent company that
DJI incubated within its Open Innovation
Program. The Livox lidars use a “flower-like
scanning pattern” to discern objects in
its field of view, which DJI says is superior
to traditional horizontal linear scanning
patterns.
“By making lidar easier and more
affordable to integrate into products and
applications, Livox sensors will enable
new innovations across a broad range of
applications from autonomous driving to
smart cities, mapping, mobile robotics and
more,” the company says. Images from a Livox lidar, showing its unique flower pattern. Image: DJI
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Undersea explorer Robert Ballard will be a
keynote speaker at the AUVSI Xponential
COVER STORY 2020 event. Go to Xponential.org for more
information.
UNDER THE SEA:

HOW AUTONOMOUS AND REMOTE UNDERWATER
VEHICLES ARE BOOSTING GLOBAL MARITIME
OPERATIONS By Jim Romeo
Exploration Vessel Nautilus, owned by the Ocean Exploration and

directed by Robert Ballard, comes equipped with a host of technology,
including deep-sea remotely operated vehicles, such as the Hercules
shown here swinging into action. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
In January 1942, a 6,768-ton, 422.8-foot long remediation of hazardous materials in shipwrecks, to hydrographic
British tanker, just five years old, steamed off Long research and exploration, and discovery of long-lost sunken ships of
Island, reporting that a menacing U-boat in its area bygone eras —including the Titanic — AUVs and ROVs are coming of
was “increasingly serious.” age as useful equipment to explore and improve the world’s ocean
On Jan. 15 of that year, the tanker, the Coimbra, depths.
was sunk by a German U-boat, taking it down and Growing market
killing most of the crew. At the time, it had 2.7
million gallons of lubricating oil onboard. For 77 The global offshore AUV and ROV market was valued at $3.5 billion
years, the oil would seep out, little by little — until and is projected to grow at about 18% per year over the next six years.
recently. The worldwide market for AUVs and ROVs is ripening as they are able to
The U.S. Coast Guard, in partnership with the enter risky and hard-to-access areas where humans can’t go, or would
New York State Department of Environmental be endangered if they did.
Conservation commissioned an ROV, or remotely AUVs are used for underwater survey tasks: the discovery and mapping
operated vehicle, to find the oil and the leak and of submerged wrecks, as well as obstructions that might obstruct
fix it. navigation for commercial and recreational vessels.
The Coimbra is one of 87 wrecks beneath the An AUV operates autonomously, without operator intervention. When it
ocean’s surface that pose environmental risk. It finishes its mission, it returns to a preprogrammed location. Its data and
is one example of how autonomous underwater information is then gathered and dowloaded for further analysis.
vehicles (AUVs) and ROVs are being used to An ROV differs from an AUV in that it is tethered to a ship or
solve a myriad of problems. From environmental offshore platform by cable. The cables enable maneuverability of
the ROV, allowing it to travel and perform
per the control of a remote operator. It
may include cameras, lights, sonar, and
articulating arms. It may be coordinated to
retrieve objects, cut lines, or assist in lifting
objects. While a human diver could perform
the same functions, an ROV may not only
assist a diver, but also go where it would be
unsafe for a diver to go.
Discovering the Titanic

In August 1985, 73 years after its sinking,
explorer and conservationist Robert Ballard
led an American-French expedition from
the U.S. Naval vessel Knorr to the sunken
ship’s location, 380 miles southeast of
Newfoundland. The Knorr deployed the
Argo, a 16-foot submersible sled outfitted
with a remote-controlled camera that
transmitted live images to a monitor. (For
more on Ballard, see the story on Page 30.)
Down it went, 13,000 feet beneath the
Atlantic Ocean, and transmitted video back
A recent crew photo aboard the EV Nautilus.
to the Knorr. The massive steam boilers Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
of the Titanic were the first structures
discovered. It showed the Titanic to be
in two pieces, with an intact bow, but a
damaged stern.
The survey shed light on to the maritime
disaster. Originally, it was thought that
the Titanic struck an iceberg, gashing an expeditionary mobile base Navy vessel
its hull and causing it to flood. After the operated by the Military Sealift Command
surveillance and exploration using the ROV, and homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.
the sinking was thought to be caused by a “One of the primary missions of the
series of fatigue cracks at stressful tank Expeditionary Sea Base class of vessels
seams, causing flooding in various places. is mine countermeasures,“ says Hanlon.
In August 2019, National Geographic “Designed primarily around the use of an
reported that “based on years of careful MH-53E [Sea Dragon helicopter] towing
analysis of the wreck, which employed a MK 105 Magnetic Mine Sweeping Sled,
then state-of-the-art flooding models and the vessel had to adapt to technological
simulations used in the modern shipping advances which have made UUVs and
industry, experts are able to paint a ROVs more portable and capable of being
gruesome portrait of Titanic’s last hours deployed on various vessels.
and minutes.” “These technological advances
Using the images captured by the of unmanned undersea vehicles and
ROV, and later creating 3-D models, they remotely operated vehicles have
explained the ship did not merely slip increased their utility and capability
beneath the ocean waves, but, as a result within the military community,” he says.
of the initial blow, “the bow had filled with “The ability for the ESB Class to utilize
water and the stern had risen high enough the same vehicles as the LCS Class
into the air to expose the propellers and demonstrates the modularity that is
create catastrophic stresses on the middle being designed into these systems.
of the ship. Then the Titanic cracked in half.” This capability is a force multiplier when
considering the contested environments
that ships operate in today.”
Force multiplier Hanlon says he believes the use of ROVs
AUVs — sometimes also referred to and AUVs will become more prevalent
as unmanned underwater or undersea within the oceangoing community as the
vehicles, or UUVs — play a key role in technology continues to advance.
mine countermeasures in conventional “The United States Navy has already
warfare. William F. Hanlon IV is the chief designed this modularity and capability
engineer of the USNS Hershel “Woody” into their ships and continues to look
Williams, Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) 4,

for areas to retrofit this capability in other
classes,” he says. “Soon, the commercial
world will follow with initial retrofits, which will
eventually lead to designing certain merchant
ships around the capability of utilizing UUVs
and ROVs possibly changing the way we
design ships.”
From Hanlon’s perspective, standardization
of UUVs is needed. If manufacturers could
develop a standardized plug system so
as to easily integrate into ships, it would
greatly boost the capability of UUV and ROV
capability.
“Currently, ships have to have designated
spots to land TEUs [20-foot equivalent units,
a measure of cargo capacity] for power,
support, operation, and communications
for each type of UUV/ROV,” he says. “When
loading 12-plus TEUs for a multi-capable
mission package, this ability to land all TEUs
for a certain piece of equipment near each
other makes planning, installing, launching,
and recovery less time consuming.”
He continues, “The potential of these
vehicles is incredible. The technology seems
to be growing exponentially, utilizing greater
robotic abilities and possible inclusion of
artificial intelligence these vehicles create
the ability to open up and get a better
understanding of what’s below the surface
of our oceans. Ultimately, no matter how
advanced we think our current vehicles are,
they will only become smaller, more efficient,
and more autonomous, creating the ability to
launch teams of vehicles to perform mapping
functions, exploration or even salvage.”
Underwater flexibility
William Courtney is a Chief Mate, also with
the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command and
has worked with in maritime environments
where ROVs and AUVs are used. He views
ROVs and AUVs as allowing greater flexibility
for subsea missions.
“On the surface and underwater, unmanned
vehicles can generally tolerate more adverse
environmental conditions such as sea state,
current, temperature, than divers can, which
minimizes downtime due to poor conditions,”
he says.
Courtney says this equipment doesn’t
require a lot of downtime aside from
maintenance and recharging. With multiple
vehicles, simultaneous missions are possible,
as well as more and longer continuous
missions.
The use of ROVs and AUVs, Courtney says,
may coordinate with vessel equipped with

dynamic positioning — which allows
them to keep station over a specific
point — for even greater flexibility to
investigate targets of opportunity or
reposition a ship or floating platform
as needed without anchoring or
mooring systems normally required for
diving operations.
“I anticipate that unmanned
systems will continue to grow in
reliability, endurance, range, battery
power, and overall capability,” Courtney
says. “The systems that handle them
will likely continue to become smaller,
more streamlined and portable.”
Like Hanlon, Courtney believes
artificial intelligence may boost
underwater vehicle effectiveness in
the future.
Courtney says experience from
U.S. Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage
Units and mine-hunting teams using
small and portable vehicles will lead
to more of them being used, which in
turn will make them cheaper and more
attractive to smaller operations with
limited capital who wish to enhance
their subsea capability.
The subsea capabilities of AUVs
and ROVs are many. From salvage
operations to defense, offshore
explorations and other maritime
operations, underwater vehicles are
game changers. They’ll likely continue
to improve any subsea operations and
may even play an important role in an
emergent “blue economy” poised to
capitalize on the resources beneath
the ocean, safely and responsibly.
As for the Coimbra, the ROV was
able to find the precise location of the
leak: a pinhole opening in a tank, with
other nearby tanks containing oil also.
Recovery and cleanup is underway,
77 years late, thanks to an ROV that
could submerge and survey the wreck
without risking human life.
The Deep Discoverer ROV on the deck

of the Okeanos Explorer, a ship operated
by the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration. Photo:
NOAA

XPO PREVIEW
XPONENTIAL SPEAKER, LEGENDARY EXPLORER

BALLARD PREPS FOR MODERN-DAY LEWIS &
CLARK EXPEDITION By Brett Davis
Legendary underwater explorer Robert Ballard It could also be a modern windfall comparable
is about to embark on perhaps his most ambitious to the economic growth that occurred after the
voyage yet — a modern-day version of the Lewis Louisiana Purchase. The oceans could be used
and Clark expedition to map a newly enlarged to feed an ever-growing population and for the
United States of America. mining of rare earth minerals, critical to modern
America doubled in size when Napoleon, forced electronics.
to pay war debts after losing to England, sold the “It isn’t the second Lewis and Clark expedition,
Louisiana Purchase to Thomas Jefferson for $15 because Lewis and Clark had a Corps of Discovery,
million. He enlisted Meriwether Lewis and William which is what he called his men, and they were
Clark to find out what he had bought. all men except for Sacajawea,” Ballard says. “We
In the 1980s, President Reagan again doubled call our team the Corps of Exploration, and 55
the size of the United States, Ballard says, not percent of our team are women in positions of
for $15 million “but for the price of the pen” he leadership and authority, so we call it the Lois and
used to sign a proclamation extending America’s Clark expedition. So, it’s pretty exciting and we get
jurisdictions out to 200 miles from all of its territory underway in March.”
as part of the Law of the Sea Convention, which lays Unlike some of his earlier expeditions — such as
out rights and responsibilities for nations using the to find the location of the Titanic, which he did in
world’s oceans. 1985, or the German battleship Bismarck, which
Due to America’s extensive coastlines, “it’s an he found a few years later — Ballard and his team
inordinate amount of real estate,” Ballard says, “yet don’t know exactly what they’re looking for.
we have better maps of Mars than we have of the “We are literally going, I have to say, boldly going,
United States of America.” where no human has gone before in America,” he
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric says.
Administration (NOAA) is now home to the Office Lewis and Clark brought their findings back to
of Ocean Exploration and Research, which Ballard Jefferson after their journey, which took nearly 2.5
says is the first such office in the history of the years. Jefferson wasn’t able to follow their exploits
United States. A fish-eye view of
in real time, but scientists will be able to do that
“Its charter is to conduct a massive series of the Exploration with the Corps of Exploration.
expeditions, to go out and map and characterize Vessel Nautilus. The expedition will use a ship named the
what we own with a view towards what’s now All photos: Ocean Exploration Vessel Nautilus, or EV Nautilus, which
emerging in the economic sector, called the blue Exploration Trust is currently in drydock getting a new engine.
economy,” he says. “We have the next 10 years to “We’re operating the ship almost in an analogous
map the underwater America. It’s pretty exciting, way to an emergency room in a hospital,” he says.
actually.” He cites the example of an ambulance pulling up

at 2 a.m. Emergency room technicians don’t know if they will
be dealing with a baby being born, a gunshot victim, a heart
attack or something else. Whatever it is, they stabilize the
patient and then call in a local doctor with particular expertise
who can get there in half an hour.
Ballard says if his team finds something extraordinary
under the water, “no matter where, or when, or how deep ... we
will deliver the brightest minds in America to the spot of the
discovery in 30 minutes.”
The EV Nautilus has dynamic positioning, meaning it can
hover over an area more like a helicopter than a traditional
ship. The underwater robots connect to the ship via fiber optic
cable and the ship connects to a high-bandwidth satellite.
“So, imagine we discover something. We go into full dynamic
positioning, so we are now hovering and the [robotic] vehicle
is looking at it with 4K cameras and has manipulators. That is
instantly put in our command center,” he says.
“We have a very high satellite link of 20 megabytes so we Above: Ballard, left, in the control room of EV Nautilus.
can send high-definition images ashore. And we have built Below: A deep-sea denizen spotted by one of the ship’s
for this project what we call the Inner Space Center, sort of ROVs.
like Houston underwater, based at the Graduate School of
Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island ... there’s a
staff standing watch there also, 24/7.”
Experts from around the country can be quickly rousted to
investigate a discovery at any time.
“Imagine it’s a guy or gal and they’re an expert. It’s Sunday
morning so they’re probably in bed. So, the phone rings next
to their bed. They know something’s up. We say, ‘boot up your
laptop.’ While they’re in bed, we will stream the discovery right
into their laptop.”
The experts can also be patched in by phone and help direct
an operation in real time, or travel to their universities to remote
consoles, “so they think they are physically in the room.” They
can even scramble their own team, also on consoles, and
“take over the ship and prosecute the discovery,” he says.
The findings can also be streamed into classrooms around
the country and on to the web and social media. In other
words, the days of waiting on an expedition to report back are
long gone.
“I lived that for 60 years,” Ballard says. “So, yeah, this is a
different world.”
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RECRUITING THE FUTURE: INDUSTRY

RETHINKS HOW IT HIRES, TRAINS WORKERS
By Clark Perry
As the global UAV industry expands and the personal computer revolution of the 1970s.
matures, the biggest market innovations may The PC industry was embraced first by hobbyists who had little idea what
not be found on the hardware and software side. impact the technology would eventually have. One decade, you’re devoting
Now more than ever, the industry is carefully your weekends to tinkering with homebrew computer kits — the next, you’re
rethinking how it hires the people who design, suddenly the corporate head of IT at a major multinational company.
produce, and sell its products. “The fact that a hobby can become a vocation for people is exciting,” says
This shift in core resource allocation is often Craig Woolsey, professor of aerospace and ocean engineering at Virginia Tech.
seen in new industries that have experienced “I’ve had students who come in with their goal being: ‘I want to work in the Bay
sudden growth. According to The Drone Industry Area for a startup with drones.’ That’s new for me. It’s been in the last 10 years
Barometer 2019, a joint survey by Drone Industry that started happening.”
Insights and Interaerial Solutions, the spending Educators like Woolsey look for students whose curiosity and imagination
plans of unmanned industry players are rapidly
becoming more people oriented.
The survey queried more than 500 UAS
companies from 74 nations. While the main
increase in UAS resource spending from 2018
to 2019 was in marketing and sales, staff
development ranked second on the list of
priorities for these companies.
“Disruptive technologies by their very nature
create whole new markets,” says Garry Bullock,
Chief Technology Officer of Pierce Aerospace
of Indiana and president of AUVSI’s Indiana
chapter. “Old markets go away and brand-new
markets come up, and you don’t know what
those markets are going to look like. For the
people who work in those industries, like UAS, I
think it’s a little bit different than your traditional
engineering or business kinds of jobs.”
Think different
There is one highly valued trait the unmanned
industry is seeking in job applicants: the ability
to think differently and holistically when it
comes to challenges. In other words, workers
are needed who can evolve along with an ever-
changing industry.
“You’re looking for a Renaissance person
in many ways,” Bullock says. “The classical
definitions of mechanical engineer, electrical
engineer or physicist all start to blur at the
edges. One of the things I look for in people is
an insatiable curiosity, the ability to look at the
problem at hand, and to also ask: What does the
horizon look like in five years? In 10?”
If the “Renaissance worker” idea seems like a
tall order, consider the seeds that were planted
long ago by the unmanned market itself. When
the first commercially available drones appeared
on store shelves more than a decade ago, it set
off an explosion of aviation hobbyists not unlike

signal they have the flexible thinking needed interview, the students that have been involved in some of these hands-
for the unmanned systems industry. “When I’m on experiences really do have an edge. They can hit the ground running
looking for graduate students, I’m going to train on a project or problem faster while they’re being groomed for the harder
them to solve difficult equations. But for the first things they’re actually being hired to do.”
year or so, they’re going to have to be contributing Education doesn’t begin in college, of course.
in other ways. If they have their Part 107 “Never underestimate the value of STEM programs in grade schools
certification or if they’ve built drones as a hobby, and high schools,” Bullock says. “There is a tremendous amount of talent
those are immediately useful skills,” he says. in these schools. I think STEM is a tremendous opportunity to accelerate
While the post-WWII aerospace industry that learning and actually provide young people with a vision of where
boom may seem similar at first, the large scale they can be,” he says.
of that revolution tended to produce specialists Bullock mentors high school engineering teams as they design and
confined to specific areas of engineering. develop ideas for competitions.
“Everything that our students are seeing in this “I’m incredibly impressed with the talent, quality, and depth of
space is at a much smaller scale, which actually technical understanding these young people have. I’m actually trying to
is a good thing. As students, they can work on work with one particular team to see if we can get a provisional patent
projects that have direct relevance to what they for their idea. I’d like to see them protect their intellectual property
end up doing in their career when they finish, as because I think it’s going to be a game changer in the area of unmanned
opposed to learning the theory and then going systems technology,” he says.
out and working in proximity to the shop floor In addition to core skills such as technical conception and product
where giant machines are being made,” Woolsey marketing and research, Bullock emphasizes the importance of
says. “They can really learn the whole electronic effective social skills.
development cycle at once, rather than just “If you can’t stand up in front of a group of people and speak, or if you
joining a big group and working on a small part of can’t write or communicate, you’re not going to go far,” he says. “Granted,
a big project.” there are some people who are just not built to do that, and we need to
Higher education can be more than a training help them express their ideas. Having good social skills is very important
ground — it can, and should, be a playground of in today’s environment.”
ideas, says Woolsey.
“We now have some exciting research projects
where the students are unconstrained by reality,”
he says. Such out-of-the-box thinking is vital for
the development of essential problem-solving Students get hands-on with technology at AUVSI
skills. “The students are thinking: what are we Xponential 2019. Photo: Becphotography
going to be doing in 15 years? They’re seeing
the possibilities for 15 years out irrespective of
what the regulatory framework is. They see the
engineering possibilities.”
Removing barriers
Removing industry and regulatory barriers
in the safe space of academia is an important
learning tool for these students. Woolsey points
to one project as an example: a multi-university
collaboration on atmospheric data sensing, which
he advises.
“This involves a dense distribution of UAVs
that are operating unattended 24/7 in all weather
conditions, and collecting data that can feed into
weather models,” he says. “Now, if I sit and think
about this project, I have to wonder: when is the
FAA going to allow that? But the students don’t
think that right now. They have the passion to
make it happen, even if it takes longer than they
thought.”
The advantage is evident, especially to industry
recruiters eager to snap up these graduates
when they enter the job market.
“What they’re looking for in some ways hasn’t
changed in terms of the core capabilities students
should have,” says Woolsey. “They’re looking for
self-starters who can understand physics and
can formulate and solve problems. It just turns
out that the problem domains have changed a
little bit. For that first ‘get your foot in the door’

Educational scaffolding — but we have to tear down the stigma that exists
because it works in really any field.”
Keely Griffith, AUVSI’s director of industry education, agrees During her tenure at Southern New Hampshire
that STEM programs are vital to foster tomorrow’s engineers. University, Griffith was impressed with the efforts
“It’s helpful when a student knows they want to take put forth by community colleges and trade schools.
engineering classes early on. From an education perspective, “Those institutions have really grasped that they
it’s really helpful when you have that scaffolding. It’s imperative have a foothold in this area. Students can graduate
to make sure the content they’re learning builds throughout, so with a two-year degree, and a lot of times these are
they can implement it more clearly when they get into those people who want to change their career but they
upper-level classes and graduate programs,” she says. can’t change their job. So, they enroll in a registered
Before coming to AUVSI, Griffith served as an associate dean apprenticeship program. There are a lot of funding
at Southern New Hampshire University, where she worked to options out there. It’s a great investment to be made,
connect higher education with industry needs. and I wish more schools would do it,” she says.
“They have a pretty unique and progressive perspective on In the United Kingdom, innovative apprenticeship
higher education. They want to make education accessible and programs exist in fields such as accounting, IT, and
useful for graduates to get a job.” even law.
Griffith sees a subtle shift happening, as many employers “Employees can actually go in and work for these
reconsider what they need from their workforce. One emerging organizations part of the time and go to school the
trend: workers who continually upgrade their skill set over the other part of the time. When they graduate, they have
course of a career. the exact skills that are needed. Those programs are
“If you’re only in one realm with expertise on a single avenue, doing very well,” Griffith says.
it’s going to limit your scope,” she says. By augmenting one’s It’s a new idea may take time to grow stronger
education with specialized training programs, new career roots in the United States, but the benefits could be
pathways exist, even for those who do not pursue the typical huge.
path of higher education. “Maybe within the next 10 years, it’s something
“We see a lot of UAV operator positions listed where the we’ll see,” she says. “You have to have more higher
qualifications are only a high-school diploma or an associates education programs willing to offer it. But again, the
degree,” she says. “People see the benefit of these smaller employer drives it. The employers have to start saying
credentials. More and more, job applicants are asking, what do I that they want this. They want to hire someone and
need to learn at this time for this job in the moment?” will pay for their school. They want these employees
part of the time to teach them skills, and to reap the
Alternative paths benefit from a formal education.”
As the unmanned industry evolves and adapts,
Bullock also sees the need for alternative educational
there’s every reason to expect its workforce will do
pathways.
the same.
“Maybe the engineering schools and technical college are not
exactly what we need here. Maybe we need something more
like guilds or certification programs. It begins to sound a lot like
the old labor unions where workers began as apprentices and
trained until they became a master in their field. Why wouldn’t
that work for programmers?” he says. Coming together at Xponential
Griffith believes the future will see increased cooperation
between business and education, with schools crafting One place where jobseekers and industry come
specific programs in tandem with industries to equip them together is Xponential, held this year in Boston, May
with the trained workforce they need. She cites the concept 4-7. This year, AUVSI introduces the Sandbox, as
of apprenticeships as a new model showing positive results in part of the Learning Lab on the exhibit hall floor. This
some areas. allows industry leaders, students and researchers
One model is Zurich North America, the insurance company to have a common space to problem-solve and
whose recent efforts with an apprenticeship program are collaborate.
being closely watched. Participants in the program work for the Engineers, research specialists, solution
company a few days each week, and on other days the company providers, university students, research assistants,
foots the bill to send them to college classes. professors, and others can reserve space in the
“It creates this loyalty because the company is investing in Sandbox for a specific date and time during the
its workers before they have the necessary skills,” says Griffith. show. Participants will host the space and share
“The employees are also able to immediately relate what they’re their problem, research area or discussion topic
learning in the classroom to their on-the-job training.” with conference attendees, industry leaders, and
The apprenticeship concept was a once-ubiquitous feature other learners who join them in the Sandbox. The
of many economies. Now these new experiments are being goal is to use the Xponential community to problem-
watched for measurable, meaningful results. solve and seek solutions in the field of autonomous
“If you look at schools around the Chicago area, they have systems.
a pretty significant buy-in to the apprenticeship idea,” says Also at Xponential, job seekers will have Career
Griffith. “More and more organizations are getting in line and Center kiosks where they can search for openings,
saying, ‘This is working.’ This has worked for trade schools for and exhibitors will have tent cards for their booths
a while — occupations like plumbers and welders, for example to indicate they are hiring.

GeoConnexion
• GIS
• GPS October 2017 Volume 16 Issue 9
• GIS
• GPS February 2018 Volume 17 Issue 2
• GIS
• GPS March/April 2018 Volume 17 Issue 3
• CAD • CAD • CAD
• REMOTE SENSING • REMOTE SENSING • REMOTE SENSING
• PHOTOGRAMMETRY • PHOTOGRAMMETRY • PHOTOGRAMMETRY
• SURVEYING • SURVEYING • SURVEYING
• CARTOGRAPHY • CARTOGRAPHY • CARTOGRAPHY
• IMAGE PROCESSING • IMAGE PROCESSING • IMAGE PROCESSING
• BUSINESS GEOGRAPHICS GeoConnexion International Magazine • BUSINESS GEOGRAPHICS GeoConnexion International Magazine • BUSINESS GEOGRAPHICS GeoConnexion International Magazine
VISIONS OF THE SKY GEO:INTERNATIONAL

BUILDING THE WHY UAVS NEED
SURVEYING THE INACCESSIBLE
TALKING TO MACHINES
WORLD IN 3D 3D MAPPING FOREST DETECTIVES
EMERGENCY REALITY CAPTURE

MAPPING ZANZIBAR
GEO:UK
LASER SCANNING
CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
HIGHWAYS MAINTENANCE
This month incorporating Mar/Apr 2018
The latest geoinformation serving the World The latest geoinformation serving the World The latest geoinformation serving the World
• GIS • GIS • GIS

• GPS May/June 2018 Volume 17 Issue 4 • GPS July/August 2018 Volume 17 Issue 5 • GPS September 2018 Volume 17 Issue 6
• CAD • CAD • CAD
• REMOTE SENSING • REMOTE SENSING • REMOTE SENSING
• PHOTOGRAMMETRY • PHOTOGRAMMETRY • PHOTOGRAMMETRY
• SURVEYING • SURVEYING • SURVEYING
• CARTOGRAPHY • CARTOGRAPHY • CARTOGRAPHY
• IMAGE PROCESSING • IMAGE PROCESSING • IMAGE PROCESSING
• BUSINESS GEOGRAPHICS GeoConnexion International Magazine • BUSINESS GEOGRAPHICS GeoConnexion International Magazine • BUSINESS GEOGRAPHICS GeoConnexion International Magazine
This month incorporating July/August 2018

INTERGEO 2018 BRIDGING THE GAP
GEO:INTERNATIONAL
UAV LIDAR V PHOTOGRAMMETRY SPECIAL PREVIEW WITH AERIAL IMAGERY:
ALL AT SEA WITH PLASTIC WASTE PHASE ONE INDUSTRIAL TAKES THE
STRAIN OUT OF BRIDGE INSPECTION
SURVEYING 15KM2 IN A DAY
GEO:UK
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
HEALTHCARE
GEOBIM
GEO:INTERNATIONAL
REAL-TIME ORTHORECTIFICATION
THE AI ROUTE PLANNER
MONTREAL VS THE ASH BORER
GEO:UK
This month incorporating May/June 2018 AERIAL SURVEYING This month incorporating September/October 2018
FIELD MAPPING
GEO BUSINESS 2018 ROUNDUP
The latest geoinformation serving the World The latest geoinformation serving the World The latest geoinformation serving the World
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REGION IN FOCUS
SEA MACHINES
OPENS ADVANCED
BOSTON TECH CENTER
Sea Machines Robotics has
opened a new advanced technology
center in Boston that will be used to
accelerate product development and
accommodate the company’s growing
team.
Located adjacent to Sea Machine’s
headquarters and vessel testing
sites in East Boston’s shipyard, the
fully renovated workspace provides
a collaborative, open working
environment, as well as expansive
conference and meeting areas.
FLIR SYSTEMS
OPTIMUS RIDE
TAPPED TO PRODUCE
SHOWCASES SELF-
COMMON ROBOTIC
DRIVING SHUTTLES
SYSTEM-HEAVY FOR Boston-based Optimus Ride revealed
US ARMY its self-driving shuttles are part of a new
FLIR Systems, through its acquisition of $1.4 billion mixed-use area in Reston,
Boston-based Endeavor Robotics, which it Virginia to provide “safe, efficient,
bought in 2019, has been selected by the autonomous transportation,” in the
U.S. Army to produce the Common Robotic NEW ENGLAND words of global real estate services
System-Heavy, or CRS-H, under a $109 company Brookfield Properties.
million contract. AUVSI NEW ENGLAND In just five weeks of service in Reston,
CRS-H is designed to bolster the the vehicles have already provided
protection of EOD Soldiers by increasing CHAPTER 15,000 rides.
standoff to interrogate hazardous devices Based in Boston, but representing
in various military operations, as well as in New England, the chapter is devoted
homeland defense applications. to advancing the unmanned systems
“The Army is modernizing robotic and and robotics community through
autonomous capabilities with a family of education, advocacy and leadership,
enduring systems that leverage the best promoting market growth. One of its
of available commercial technology critical signature events is the Robotica event
to giving Soldiers overmatch in future series, which has included summits on
contingencies,” says Timothy G. Goddette, autonomous vehicles and unmanned
the Army’s PEO for Combat Support & aircraft.
Combat Service Support.
APTIV, HYUNDAI FORM AUTONOMOUS

DRIVING JOINT VENTURE
Ireland-based self-driving car company Aptiv and Hyundai Motor Group are
forming an autonomous driving joint venture to advance the design
and development of SAE Level 4 and 5 AV technologies.
The venture will be headquartered in Boston,
home of Aptiv Autonomous Mobility President Karl
Iagnemma, who came to the company when it
acquired his previous AV company, nuTonomy.
The joint venture will start testing fully
driverless systems next year, with a plan to have
a production-ready autonomous driving platform
available for robotaxi providers, fleet operators, and
automotive manufacturers in 2022.
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FEATURE
FROM HOBBY TO BUSINESS: CREATING A

BUSINESS MAP FOR NEW DRONE COMPANIES
By Kevin G. Switick
Core ideology
This is the reason you started your
business. It’s the passion behind everything
you do and can be broken down into the
several components.
• Purpose. Your purpose is why you exist. It
must be empowering to unleash the passion
within everyone that works for your business
and the customers you seek. It is your “why.”
• Values, beliefs and business principles.
These define how you behave as a business.
In the end, they form the basis for your
corporate culture, your brand and your
identity. By what values does your company
operate? What beliefs do you hold self-
evident, such that all important business
decisions are made with them in mind, and
what are the fundamental business principles
you must use to drive your daily business
actions? Some examples from Avian include
The drone market of today is well over 40-years old, value: we are always reachable by our
and yet it still feels a little like the wild, wild west in customers, regardless of the time, night or
2020. Why? What is collectively missing? What will The author day; belief: we believe in serendipity and will
get the drone market to the next level? addresses the never respond to a request for a favor by a
The answer: Stop acting like a bunch of technicians audience at AUVSI competitor or a peer by demanding a favor in
in love with products and start acting like business Unmanned Systems return; and principle: when we are focused on
owners in love with customers. How do we correct Defense. Protection. our competition, they are winning, so always
Security conference keep an internal focus on constantly adding
this misguidance? By creating a business map; one in 2019. Photo:
for our business; and one for our overarching drone more value for our customers and let the
AUVSI
market with the help of AUVSI. competition worry about us.
• Mission. Your mission statement is what
you do, and it must have some emotional
Mapping the business juice to inspire and ignite your employees
A business map helps provide immense clarity and attract your ideal customer. Start your
into all the other critical elements of business mission statement with the words “To create,
beyond a love affair with the product: the core of the to inspire,” etc.
business; the ideal customer; a pre-eminent strategy We can look to industry for some examples
for reaching the ideal customer and keeping them; of this last bullet point, including Uber Air,
and the right business model for monetizing the PrecisionHawk and Skycatch.
engagement with a focus on sustaining profitability. Uber Air aims to implement an urban air
There are many ways to create a business map, so mobility ridesharing network in cities across
feel free to research and tailor this concept for your the world. A multi-modal, on-demand service
business and market. I use my company’s business will reduce riders’ commute times and free up
map, developed with guidance from the IncCEO ground space in and around cities.
Project, as a guidepost. PrecisionHawk is dedicated to changing
A business map is broken into two key parts: your the way businesses view their assets and
core ideology and your envisioned future. manage resources. To extract the true

commercial value of drones, we must
continue to advance a multifaceted
technology that includes advanced
robotics, robust software, and rich data.
Skycatch’s aim is to capture the world’s
data and create visual intelligence to help
Lay it all out
people operate faster, safer, and smarter There are many recommended ways to create
than ever before. your business model and your marketing strategy.
A business’ core ideology should never Everywhere you turn there is another business book
change over time. Remain true to your that can recommend the best business strategy, but
passion and your mission. Give this a great they are all very similar.
deal of thought. Zumaeta group, led by Emmy-winning Ginger
Zumaeta, is one such option that focuses on the
Envisioned future customer “hero.”
Using tools like these will help refine who your ideal
Your enduring future is who you will customer is, and what they really want — and the
become. It is the vision of your business 10, answer is not your drone.
20, or 30 years out, and your chosen path Fall in love with your customer, not your product.
to achieving it. Unlike the core ideology, Once completed, your business map becomes a
which should never change over time, your living document that is routinely updated as market
envisioned future can and will change as conditions fluctuate; and they will fluctuate.
market forces change. As such, it is broken One of AUVSI’s key tenets is to educate its members.
down into the following components: Coming soon will be a business course on how to start
• Vision. Your vision statement is who and operate a more efficient, effective and profitable
your company will be in the future, and it UAS business. Watch for announcements from AUVSI.
starts with the words “to be.” Until then, go find your ideal customer and start
• Goals. Based on your vision, what are showing them some love.
the primary goals that must be achieved to
keep you on the right path to your future,
broken down into five-year, 10-year and
20-year guideposts. Your goals should be
designed with enough clarity to keep you
on the right path.
• Strategy. Your strategy is where you
start to focus on falling in love with your
customer, and it starts with creating a solid
business model and a supporting marketing
strategy. Once you have a business model,
you can create a strategy on how you’re
going to focus on certain segments of the
market before others and come up with a
realistic approach to expand your business
over time. As with your vision, which has
goals to keep you on your chosen path,
your strategy will have key objectives as
steppingstones along that path. Unlike
your vision, which may be 10 to 20 years
in the future, your strategy should be more
short-term, three to five years at the most,
as market condition constantly vary. Any
effort to create a longer-range strategy
would most likely be wasted energy.
• Objectives. Based on your short-term
strategy, define the key objectives that
must be accomplished to ensure that
you’re making progress along your journey.
Your key objectives should be such that
they are measurable and can be tracked as
key performance indicators or objectives
and key results. Always remember, as
management consultant Peter Drucker
said, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t
manage it.”
Autonomous Flight — A Naval Aviator’s Journey an infant commercial drone market
started to emerge around the globe,
In 2001, U.S. Commander and former U.S. Navy test pilot Kevin Switick began and AUVS become AUVS International
work at the Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) in Newport, Rhode Island, (AUVSI).
on a new warfighting concept called The Expeditionary Sensor Grid (ESG). This While many commercial companies
tiered unmanned aerial vehicle architecture concept served as the genesis of the designed and produced various
Department of Defense’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap of today. different types of UAS, the military’s
Just prior, the Navy was deploying a very limited number of UAS, such as the RQ-2 fascination with the technology took
Pioneer, from large combatants and battleships, mostly experimenting with the on a more structured form. Numerous
technology. acquisition programs emerged to
In fact, the U.S. Navy was experimenting with unmanned technology as early as design and develop UAS.
1967 with platforms like the Gyrodyne QH-50 DASH, which stood for Drone Anti- This was the time when NWDC put
Submarine Helicopter. The U.S. Air Force was using target drones as reconnaissance the ESG concept to the test during a
assets in the Vietnam War, which prompted the creation of the National Association global wargame at the U.S. Naval War
of Remotely Piloted Vehicles (NARPV) in 1972; later renamed the Association for College, as well as in the 2002 Fleet
Unmanned Vehicle Systems, AUVS, in 1978. Battle Experiment JULIET.
However, the real push by the Navy to fully invest in drone technology didn’t Despite a focused and
occur until the late 1990s, with the creation of its first UAS program — the Multi- concentrated military effort, the
Mission Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems Program, or PMA-266, and its first formal commercial drone market took a wild,
UAS acquisition program, the MQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter in 2003. Concurrently, wild west approach throughout the
2000s and well into the 2010s with
companies springing up everywhere
with no coordinated market outcome
other than, “if we will build it, they will
come.” It was a solution looking for a
problem.
In fact, in 2006, when Switick
retired from the Navy, he started his
own defense-related company with
that very “they will come” mentality
as his business strategy (see the
related Q & A on Page 18).
Switick’s company, Avian, holds
the prime contract with the U.S.
Navy’s UAS Test Directorate, now Air
Test and Evaluation Squadron TWO-
FOUR (UX-24), conducting flight test
operations on various type, model,
series group 1-3 UAS for the Navy
and Marine Corps, as well as two spin-
off business units focused on the
commercial drone market.
Trimble Precision What will get the

OEM GNSS drone market to the
Precise positioning solutions for
OEMs and systems integrators
next level?
► Delivers centimeter-level The answer: Stop
►
positioning
Easy to integrate acting like a bunch
► Reliable, robust of technicians in
love with products
and start acting like
business owners in
intech.trimble.com love with customers.
– Kevin Switick
Learn from industry thought leaders with AUVSI’s Webinar Series without
ever leaving your office. Each month experts share their insights and answer
your questions about the unmanned community’s most pressing issues.
Webinars are FREE for AUVSI members and $49 for non-members.
Learn more about becoming an AUVSI member at auvsi.org/why-join-auvsi
Sign up for an AUVSI webinar today! auvsi.org Connect with us:
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International

CHAPTER NEWS
New England systems, and what the industry can expect from the TSA
in the future.
Also in the area, Southern California Edison (SCE) and
The New England Chapter hosted its annual Robotica UAS
San Diego Gas & Electric have been inspecting utility poles
Summit Nov. 20 in Burlington, Massachusetts. The event by drones.
was focused on UAS entering the national airspace system. One of the drone companies conducting the inspections
It consisted of five internationally renowned leaders (Brian is San Diego-based Birds Eye Aerial Drones. Other San
Wynne, AUVSI president and CEO; Troy Thomas, partner and Diego-based companies have roles in processing the data
associate director, BCG; Lisa Wieland, CEO, Massachusetts and overseeing the safety of the flights in the field.
Port Authority; Helen Greiner, highly qualified expert in It takes less than a minute to capture high resolution
robotics, autonomy and AI, Department of the Army; Tim photos taken by the drone from multiple positions above
Bennett, director, Air Domain Awareness, Department of the pole which is extremely cost effective and time saving.
Homeland Security) who presented their insights in riveting
keynote presentations, and four panels.
The panel sessions were focused on public operations,
including how drone data will be used by government;
UAS enablers, including discussions about infrastructure
scaling, unmanned traffic management adoption, issues
utilities face using drones in dangerous environments,
and how these new vehicles co-exist in a multi-modal
Some recipients of Embry-Riddle’s TOP Level 3 training.
ecosystem; counter-UAS systems, including discussion
Photo: San Diego Lindbergh Chapter
of some of the threats and civil mitigation approaches;
and urban air mobility, which discussed what it will take to
create the vision of the Jetsons’ flying taxis. Rocky Mountain
It was a sellout event and had over 150 attendees,
plus many exhibiting companies. There was also a The newly elected executive team for the 2020-2021
pitch fest that allowed audience members to have an term have taken office. The chapter would like to thank the
opportunity to share what they were working on in a three- outgoing team for all they have done for the chapter over
minute talk. This was a resounding success, having 15 the previous two years!
pitches and facilitating a riveting networking reception. To contact the new executive team, please reach out to:
• President: Constantin Diehl, cdiehl@skypower.online
• Vice president: Erik Dullea, erik.dullea@huschblackwell.com
• Treasurer: Paul Krois, paulkrois2019@gmail.com
Secretary: Steen Mogensen, steen@
blackpeakengineering.com
The chapter will participate in the Aerospace Day at the
Colorado Capitol on March 10. We will represent the local
unmanned systems industry and make ourselves know to
local legislators as a resource and as advocates for the
industry.
Hampton Roads
New England Chapter President Waseem Naqvi and Army
robotics and AI HQE Helen Greiner. The 2nd Annual Unmanned Systems Symposium and
Aerospace Gala, hosted by the Hampton Roads Chapter and
San Diego Lindbergh the Virginia Aerospace Business Association, is scheduled
for Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at the Hampton Roads Convention
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has been conducting Center, Virginia.
AUVSI Trusted Operator Program Level 3 testing in San See https://www.auvsi.net/hamptonroads/symposiumgala/
Diego, testing two two San Diego operators and one from symposium for more information about sponsorships,
Michigan. This will open the door for more testing to be exhibiting, and ticket cost.
available in the Southern California area. The symposium will include presentations by unmanned
The San Diego Lindbergh Chapter hosted Austin Gould, systems experts from all military services, NASA, state
assistant administrator for the Transportation Security and local government, industry and academia. This will be
Administration for requirements and capabilities analysis, an excellent networking opportunity with leadership from
policy, security, operations and intel. Gould spoke of government, industry and academia. Proceeds support
the growing need around the country for counter-UAS regional robotics activities and programs.

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For information on joining a chapter, contact:
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abernhardt@auvsi.org
To visit local chapter websites, scan this QR code

or visit auvsi.org/MembershipandChapters/Chapters >
FAR OUT
TOYOTA’S PROTOTYPE CITY WILL SERVE AS HOME

TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES
By Brian Sprowl
An aerial depiction of Toyota’s Woven City, a prototype “city” where full- time residents and researchers will be able to test and
develop technologies such as autonomy, robotics, and artificial intelligence in a real-world environment. Photo: Toyota
Toyota has unveiled plans to build a prototype “city” of mix of lower speed, personal mobility and pedestrians, and
the future, known as the Woven City, meant to be a “living for a park-like promenade for pedestrians only. These three
laboratory” that serves as a home to full-time residents and street types intertwine to form what Toyota describes as
researchers who will be able to test and develop various an “organic grid pattern” to help accelerate the testing of
technologies including autonomy, robotics and artificial autonomy.
intelligence in a real-world environment. The city is planned to be fully sustainable. To minimize the
Expected to be a fully connected ecosystem powered by carbon footprint, buildings will be made primarily of wood,
hydrogen fuel cells, the city will be built on a 175-acre site at specifically traditional Japanese wood joinery, combined
the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. with robotic production methods. To generate solar power
“Building a complete city from the ground up, even on in addition to the power generated by hydrogen fuel cells,
a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop photo-voltaic panels will cover the rooftops. Toyota also
future technologies, including a digital operating system plans to weave in the outdoors throughout the city, with
for the city’s infrastructure,” says Akio Toyoda, president native vegetation and hydroponics.
of Toyota Motor Corp.“With people, buildings and vehicles Each residence will be equipped with the latest in human
all connected and communicating with each other through support technologies, such as in-home robotics to help with
data and sensors, we will be able to test connected AI daily living. Sensor-based AI in the homes will be used to
technology… in both the virtual and the physical realms … check the health of occupants, take care of basic needs and
maximizing its potential.” enhance daily life.
Toyota will issue an open invitation to other commercial Fully autonomous, zero-emission vehicles will be the only
and academic partners interested in collaborating, and vehicles allowed on the main thoroughfares to transport
the company will also invite interested scientists and residents throughout the city. Autonomous Toyota e-Palettes
researchers from around the world to come work on their will be used in and throughout the city to transport and make
own projects in the real-world incubator. deliveries, as well as for changeable mobile retail.
“We welcome all those inspired to improve the way we The plan is for the Woven City to be populated with Toyota
live in the future, to take advantage of this unique research employees and their families, retired couples, retailers,
ecosystem and join us in our quest to create an ever-better visiting scientists, and industry partners. Initially, 2000
way of life and mobility for all,” Toyoda adds. people are expected to live in the city, with more being added
as the project evolves.
Variable speeds Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative
director of Bjarke Ingels Group, has been commissioned to
The master plan of the city includes the designations for design the Woven City. The groundbreaking for the site is
street usage into three types: for faster vehicles only, for a planned for early 2021.
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VOLUME 38 NO.

UNDER RECRUITING FROM HOBBY

Register now at auvsi.org/hillday

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 | Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 1

2 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

Boston Convention and Exhibition Center | Boston

24 Connecting the Dots

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AUVSI STAFF

Suzy Young Engagement

AUVSI Hill Day & Science 2nd Annual Unmanned

IWCE 2020 Want to see more events?

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 7

Department of the Interior bans use

NUAIR, Droneresponders partner

8 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

GM turning assembly plant

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 9

Dynetics’ X-61A Gremlins air

Empire Drone Co. receives FAA

10 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

Miso Robotics unveils next-

PLUS.AI MAKES A SPLASH WITH FIRST COAST-

Trucks are responsible for transporting the

12 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

MIT TAKES THE LONG VIEW ON ‘TOUGH TECH’

14 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 15

REMOTE ID RULE GARNERS RESPONSES

With Kevin Switick

and sensors to begin work on a contract that

On the commercial side, we know that there

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 19

A few questions for industry movers and shakers

For fun, I like to:

When I was a kid, I wanted to grow

20 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 21

Have a great photo you’ve taken with an unmanned system? Send it to

22 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

 Aviation Integrity GPS

 Easily Integrate with Your AutoPilot

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 25

UNDER THE SEA:

Exploration Vessel Nautilus, owned by the Ocean Exploration and

Discovering the Titanic

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 27

28 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

The Deep Discoverer ROV on the deck

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 29

XPONENTIAL SPEAKER, LEGENDARY EXPLORER

30 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

Rugged & Reliable,

• Multiple configuration options including straight,

• Ideal for navigation, radar, communications,

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 31

RECRUITING THE FUTURE: INDUSTRY

32 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

MARCH- APRIL 2020 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | 33

34 | UNMANNED SYSTEMS | MARCH - APRIL 2020

• REMOTE SENSING • REMOTE SENSING • REMOTE SENSING

• PHOTOGRAMMETRY • PHOTOGRAMMETRY • PHOTOGRAMMETRY

• SURVEYING • SURVEYING • SURVEYING

• CARTOGRAPHY • CARTOGRAPHY • CARTOGRAPHY